The Year of the Family
What does your investment portfolio look like? I'm not referring to your 401K or other financial investments. I hope that looks good and I hope you can retire comfortably on those investments. No, I'm talking about something far more important than a cash reserve or retirement fund. I'm talking about your human investments portfolio.

 How much time do you put away each week into your people-account? What does your family member deposit register look like? For while investing financially is good and wise, you must remember; that will only yield temporary results. Of greater importance is the investment we make as fathers, neighbors, children into those whose lives our lives intersect with.

 My family has begun a weekly investment of time together; a time free of technology and other distractions. A time of us as a family. And this new year endeavor requires more than just time. It requires effort. It requires loss - the loss of
investing time and effort in the other things we could be doing. The loss of seeing who just texted us or viewing that video on You Tube we wanted to see.

See, no matter how important that broken sink, dirty diaper, or TV show may seem, it in now way compares to the eternal value of another person. Time invested in people is never wasted time, even if it yields no visible results. God so love this world that He gave ... The greatest investment, oneself, is modeled by our Heavenly Father. And this model of investment of love is one that we can learn well from.

 The ministry of Jesus was never about the ministry. It was always about people. 

 So, let me ask you. What do you have to do that is so important that it can't wait while you invest in another person - a daughter, a neighbor, a friend. What could be more important than another person? I'm not talking about putting life on hold and neglecting responsibilities. No, I'm talking about opening the door of your heart and letting someone else in; allowing another life to touch yours and allowing yourself to touch another's life.

 It's not easy. We have an enemy who desperately hates family, despises neighborly love, and wants to destroy marriage and friendship. But we can't let him - can we? No, we must invest in what is important, in what lasts. For when we invest in people, we invest in heaven, and that's an investment that will never fail.

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